


Rocky Road

by Fallenstar126, sufianstevens



Series: Frerard stuff [13]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: AU, Awkward Gerard, Eventual Smut, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Revenge Era, Russian Translation Available, alternative universe, surfer frank
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:36:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallenstar126/pseuds/Fallenstar126, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sufianstevens/pseuds/sufianstevens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard got a summer job. Which, normally, wouldn't be a problem, if it was a comic shop, or someplace else with air conditioning and a backroom to hide away in. However, the only place that would hire him was an ice cream shack. On the beach. With an insanely hot surfer dude. </p><p>In three words? He was fucked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When Gerard got his summer job at the ice cream shack, he expected to hate every second. Being out in the sun just wasn’t for him, but he needed the money for new art supplies, and his mom had cut off his funding. He didn’t blame her though; after eighteen years of paying for it, she had a point.

 Until one day, someone showed up. It wasn’t just someone, it was a guy. A guy with a black mohawk flopping into his eye, swim trunks hanging low around his hips, revealing a body littered with art, each one blending into the other almost seamlessly.

 Gerard was staring, wide eyed and opened mouth, when the lady he was serving coughed quietly, and he snapped back to attention, quickly handing her the vanilla ice cream she had ordered.

 However, when his eyes scanned the beach again for the guy, he was gone. Gerard couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, forcing himself to go back to work.

 It was toward the end of the shift when he saw the guy again. This time, he was soaked from head to toe, hair sticking to his face and laughing brightly at something his friend had said. Gerard watched them from the back of the shack, peeking out one of the ridiculous straw windows. The guy waved goodbye, walking away from his friend.

 Heading straight for the ice cream shack.

 Quickly ducking away from the window, Gerard stayed hunched down until he heard someone approaching the front window, quickly scrambling to look normal. As soon as he stepped forward, however, he slid on a bit of ice cream that had dripped onto the floor, and fell straight on his ass.

 “Oh shit, you okay?” A voice called from over the counter, and Gerard quickly stuck his hand up over the counter, waving to indicate he was fine. He took a second to compose himself, grabbing the edge of the counter and pulling himself up carefully.

 There he was. Standing right in front of Gerard, in dripping glory, was the guy.

 “Hey, you sure you’re fine?” He asked, and Gerard could only nod dumbly, mouth dropping open as his eyes dropped to his chest.

 The guy shifted the surfboard he was holding until it leaned against the counter, not noticing Gerard's gaze, or not caring.

 “Um, well, if you’re sure you’re okay, could I get a Rocky Road?” Gerard tore his eyes away, up to the guys face.

 “What?” Was the only thing he could say, and he wanted to slap himself in the forehead as soon as it came out.

 “Um, ice cream? Like, uh.. A Rocky Road ice cream? From the containers here?” The guy pointed into the counter/freezer, indicating which bucket held the ice cream, and Gerard flushed.

 “Right! Ice cream!” He said, and quickly grabbed one of the cones, forcing himself not to look at the guy. Thankfully, he managed to get through the rest of the procedure without any more mishaps, handing the cone over in exchange for a handful of change with a fair bit of ease.

 “Thanks,” the guy smiled brightly at him, his tongue darting out as the ice cream started melting down the cone, and it took all Gerard had not to watch as he did.

 “Come on, Frank!” The guy’s friend called from the parking lot, and he turned toward it, grabbing his board and walking off.

 So now Gerard had a name for the face and chest.

 The next day seemed normal, Gerard serving cone after cone in an endless cycle, when he glanced out to the beach while making a soft serve chocolate cone, and spotted Frank. He was swimming in from surfing.

 After allowing himself to be disappointed to have missed it for a moment, Gerard looked closer, watching as Frank waited until his friend was out of the water as well, before shaking as though he were a dog, laughing.

 “Sir? The ice cream, it's-” Gerard quickly pulled the cone away, watching as it dripped down his hand and onto the floor.

 “Fuck,” he whispered quietly and threw it into the trash can, grabbing a new cone and quickly finished making it, handing it to the little girl on the other side of the counter, her mother watching him with an annoyed expression.

 “Sorry…” he said meekly, and the women huffed, and gave him the money, before turning on her heel and leading her child away. He turned back to find the mop, locating it after a moment and walked back to grab it.

 “Wow, what an ass,” a voice said, causing Gerard to yelp, jumping a foot in the air and turning around quickly. “Shit, sorry, I seem to have a bad habit of scaring you.”

 Frank was standing there.

  _Talking to him._

 “Oh, um, no, it’s fine. I’m just… yeah.” Frank raised his eyebrows, but didn’t comment. “Did you uh… you want some?”

 Gerard paused, and when Frank smirked, he wanted to sink into the floor. “Ice cream, I mean, do you want some ice cream?”

 “Sure, why not? I got time,” Frank hopped up onto one of the stools on the actual counter section of the counter, and leaned his board up against it again. “Rocky Road, please?”

 Gerard nodded, keeping his mouth shut so he didn’t say anything stupid again.

 “$2.50,” Gerard said, carefully articulating the words as to not make himself look even more like an idiot. Frank smiled at him before handing over the change, and took the cone.

 “Thanks man.”

 He thought it was over, Gerard thought that he was home free. Then, Frank decided to stay and eat his cone there. Normally, Gerard wouldn’t mind, since he was a paying customer, but he was different, somehow.

 Trying to look busy, Gerard mopped up the spilt ice cream, and cleaned the counter before he finally had nothing to do. Frank was still sitting there, finishing up his cone.

 “How long have you worked here, anyway? The girl that was here last summer definitely isn’t you, though if it is, I’m not gonna judge or anything,” Frank piped up, noticing that Gerard was standing there awkwardly, twisting a cloth in his hands.

 “Oh, um… two? Two weeks now, I think. I need money for, like, art supplies and everything,” he shrugged, but Frank nodded as if it were actually important to him.

 “So you’re an artist?”

 “When I have time,” Gerard affirmed, and Frank hummed. “Your, uh… your tattoos, they’re very nice.”

 “Hm?” He glanced at his arms as if he had forgotten about the art riddled across them. “Yeah, I like ‘em. Suppose that’s why I got them, right?”

 Gerard nodded, and went back to staring at the floor.

 “Frank.”

 “Huh?”

 “My name, it’s Frank.”

 “Oh… that’s cool.” In all honesty, Gerard had forgotten he wasn’t supposed to know Frank’s name, but at least now, he knew it in a non-creeper way.

 “This is probably the point where you tell me yours,” Frank spoke up, laughing quietly.

 “Oh! Right. Gerard, I’m Gerard.”

 “Nice to officially meet you, Gerard,” Frank said, holding out the hand that wasn’t holding his cone. Gerard reached out to shake back, only realizing after he was already holding Frank’s hand that it was the hand that had gotten ice cream all over it, still vaguely sticky.

 Gerard jerked his hand back, trying not to think of anything dirty, then instantly blushed. He proceeded to stammer, “Uh, sorry, your hand is, um-”

 Frank giggled, _holy shit his fucking giggle is so cute what the absolute FUCK_ , and waved his hand. “S’fine, don’t worry, man. I know my hand’s sticky.”

 Gerard blushed, ducking his head so his black hair hung in front of his eyes, and quietly cursed at the ground. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking like this; this was his job, for God’s sake, and he wasn’t about to be distracted by some guy with ridiculously nice abs.

 “I-is that all?” Gerard tried to get the question out without stammering, but utterly failed, and blushed when he noticed the corner of Frank’s mouth twitch. “I mean, uh, do you want anything else?”

 Gerard mentally slapped himself.

 “Are you trying to get rid of me?” Frank joked, but Gerard obviously didn’t know he was kidding, and blanched.

 “N-no! Uh, but if you want to leave, then, um, g-go ahead?” Gerard tried to say it casually, leaning against the smooth counter. His arm slipped and he stumbled a little, looking up at Frank with a humiliated expression on his blushing face.

 “Why would I leave?” Frank asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy. Gerard tried to direct his eyes to any other place that wasn’t Frank. He gripped the counter with blunt nails, blankly staring at the surface until Frank broke the silence.

 “So, do you work here _every_ day?”

Gerard shook his head. “I’m off on Wednesdays and Sundays.”

 Frank slowly nodded, as if processing it and stowing it away for later. “Okay… Wednesdays and Sundays.”

 “FRANK! IT’S TIME TO GO!” Frank’s friend shouted, yet again interrupting when Gerard opened his mouth to say something.

“In a minute, Ray!” He shouted back, hopping off the stool. He turned to Gerard and smirked at him. “See you, Gerard.”

 As he walked off, Gerard knew this wouldn’t be the last time he’d be seeing Frank.


	2. Chapter 2

Gerard awoke when he felt the sun shine against his eyelids, opening his wide brown eyes and blinking in the sudden light. He pushed himself up from his position in bed and yawned, scratching the back of his head and turning to the clock. He smacked his lips, staring at the red numbers on the digital clock, registering what he was looking at.

He was late.

The second he realized it, his eyes snapped open the widest they could, and he quickly tumbled out of bed. He kicked his feet to untangle the sheets that were wrapped around his feet, jumping up and running to the bathroom. Gerard put on deodorant, sprayed himself with some cologne (he didn’t have time to shower) and ran back to his bedroom to get dressed. He threw on a black tank top and white shorts, smoothing down his black hair to the best of his ability, running out of his bedroom and sliding into his sandals before swinging open the front door and sprinting in the direction of the beach.

When he arrived, he saw a figure at the ice cream stand, and internally panicked. He ran over, huffing, and entered the stand from the side. The man at the front jumped, and Gerard blanched when he realized who it was.

Of course. Fucking Frank.

“You’re late today, Gee,” Frank grinned, cocking his head to the side. Gerard blinked, transfixed on his red mouth, before shaking his head quickly. He didn’t even notice that Frank just gave him a nickname.

“Uh, yeah, my alarm didn’t go off,” he said quickly, rocking back and forth on his feet. “Did you want an ice cream, or…?”

Frank kicked his legs. “Nah. I was actually waiting ‘cause Ray, the guy with the hair that was with me yesterday, isn’t here. You’re the only one I can talk to.”

“Oh, um…” Gerard stared at his feet. “What did’ja wanna talk about?”

Frank shrugged. “What kind of music do you listen to?”

Gerard pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. “Hmm… uh, the majority of the stuff I listen to is by David Bowie, so-”

Frank shot up, grinning like a maniac. “I love David Bowie. I swear to God, I’m like, in love with you right now.”

Gerard’s heart jolted, and he looked down at the ground, blushing. “Uh, yeah… what do you like?”

“Pretty much everything. Except country. Ew,” Frank fake-grimaced, then grinned at Gerard, leaning forward with a confused look on his face. Gerard’s breath hitched when Frank’s (really really really nice) hand went up and into his hair. He squeezed his eyes shut, then had to restrain from indignantly sputtering when Frank only flicked his hand to the right and removed it from his head.

“How did you manage to get sand in your hair?” Frank chuckled, leaning back again. Gerard’s face heated up and he pouted.

“I could’ve gotten that myself,” he grumbled, crossing his arms. Fucking Frank, giving him false hopes.

“From my experience with the way you act, I don’t think you would’ve found it,” Frank remarked and gave him a sweet smile. Frank hopped up on a stool, crossing his arms on the surface of the counter.

“What are your tattoos?” Gerard finally asked after a long, awkward silence. Frank looked down at his arms and smiled, spreading them out straight in front of him. He held out his left arm to Gerard and pointed at what looked like a chainsaw inked on his arm.

“That’s a chainsaw, obviously,” Frank grinned and continued, running his finger down his arm, “there’s the Black Flag logo,” he pointed to something that looked kind of like an explosion, “that’s a Japanese sun, with a rose in the middle, and pistols around it,” he ran his hand down his entire arm, “a bunch of stars; pretty obvious,” he smiled and pointed to the lowermost one, “a human heart,” and finished, finally, with, “aaaand that’s the virgin Mary, with swords pointed at her heart.”

Gerard’s mouth was open by then. “Wow. You have a lot.”

Frank modestly shrugged, smiling. “I have more, but I’d rather not have you listen to me blabber on about the stories behind the rest.”

Gerard smiled, not even thinking of how self-conscious he was about his small teeth. “The closest I’ve come to a tattoo is just drawing words on my neck.”

“A lot of people don’t like tattoos, or don’t like getting ‘em. It’s fine,” Frank smiled warmly, “but I’m glad you’re interested in them and that you’re not one of those strictly religious people that look at me like I’m an abomination.”

“Says the guy who has Mary tattooed on his arm,” Gerard snorted, grinning even wider.

“Riddle me this: would an extremely religious person get a tattoo of Mary with fuckin’ knives pointed at her heart?”

Gerard nodded. “Good point.”

Silence fell again for moment, and Gerard shoved his hair back out of his face, looking around the shop for anything that he had to do, though he knew there was nothing.

Thankfully, at that moment, a girl wandered up to the stand, and ordered a couple cones, so Gerard was able to distract himself fairly easily, scooping two cones of bubblegum ice cream up and handing them over with a forced smile.

After the original panic of being late, Gerard realized that he was still exhausted. Having rushed out of the door, he was unable to make himself a coffee before he ran out, and the lack of caffeine was getting to him.

“Long night?” Frank piped up from the counter, and Gerard jumped, having forgotten he was sitting there.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Honestly, he had spent the night rereading old Batman comics because hadn’t been able to sleep. He shrugged, scratching the back of his head. “Didn’t have time to get coffee or anything this morning.”

“Do you think there’s a coffee flavoured ice cream out there?” Frank asked, and Gerard grimaced.

“That’s gross, dude.”

“How?”

“Cold coffee flavoured ice cream doesn’t exactly sound appetising,” Frank pouted, before a guy with big hair walked up, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Did I keep you waiting long?” He asked, and Frank turned to him, grinning.

“Finally, Ray, I swear I thought you ditched me,” he replied, grinning as Ray rolled his eyes, leaning against his own surfboard.

“Shut up, it’s not like you didn’t have anybody to keep you company.” At the way Ray was waggling his eyebrows, Gerard had a feeling they were talking about him, however, there were a few girls hovering around.

Frank ducked his head, standing up from his seat and grabbing his board.

“Let’s just get out there, I swear we’ve missed all the good waves since you took so fucking long.” He grinned winningly, and Ray shook his large head of hair, picking up his own board.

“See you around, Gerard!” Frank called, waving over his shoulder. Gerard waved back, before realizing that Frank had already turned his back and he was waving at nothing.

His stomach felt all tingly, and that was when he realized that he had a crush. Like a middle school girl. Dropping his head down onto the counter, he groaned loudly at the realization.

"I’m fucked,” he mumbled into his arm.


	3. Chapter 3

Gerard was working when Frank dropped by next. Though, technically, every other time he hung around, Gerard was on shift, just not actually working (usually) at scooping cones and serving people.

He barely even noticed Frank leaning against the counter, talking to some random girl. 

Frank noticed him though, and was watching him out of the corner of his eye while he worked.

Even though it was obvious that serving ice cream wasn't what Gerard wanted to be doing, he still managed to give a small smile to those who paid him the smallest bit of respect.

Frank barely was paying attention to the girls who were talking to him, nodding when it seemed they needed some input from him.

"So, Wednesday?" One of the girls said, and Frank turned to her with a lot of confusion.

"What's happening on Wednesday?"

The girl, Frank thought her name was Jamia, smiled in a good natured fashion.

"We're all going to the movies. You agreed to get Ray to double date with me and you. Christa really wants to get to know him," she explained carefully. Frank slowly nodded, understanding what he had agreed to, but not really wanting to do it anymore.

"I'm uh... I'm actually busy on Wednesday, sorry girls. I can get Ray to take you, but I'm uh..." Looking around, he quickly latched onto the only excuse he could think of.

"I've already made plans with Gerard, weeks in advance. Right, Gerard?" Frank leaned back, turning toward Gerard, who almost dropped a smoothie to the sand in surprise.

"Huh?"

"We have plans to go to that concert on Wednesday, right?" Frank 'reminded' him, the look in his eyes so desperate that he had to agree.

"Oh yeah, right. Concert. Excited. Yay?" Gerard cringed at his own false attempt at excitement, but the girls seemed to buy it.

"Oh, that's alright. Maybe next week. Tell Ray to call Christa, she'll set something up," Jamia said with a smile, before walking away.

Frank collapsed against the counter with relief, sighing happily.

"Thanks man, you really got me out of a jam there. Nice kid, not my type," Frank said, glancing up at Gerard, who mostly just seemed confused.

"Um, right," Gerard said, nodding weakly. For a minute, he had allowed himself to believe that what had just happened was Frank's strange, fucked up way of asking him out. He didn't have time to be disappointed.

"Hey, there actually is a concert going on Wednesday. Thursday is playing, you wanna go with me?"

Gerard was nodding before he could think of a reason why he couldn't go, besides the obvious of "what if I think this is a date?"

Frank’s face lit up. “Cool. Meet me here in the parking lot around seven?”

Gerard, dazed, slowly nodded. When Frank walked away, he did actually drop the smoothie that time around.

When Wednesday came around, Gerard stood with his arms wrapped around himself, standing near the beach. It was windy that day, and Gerard was currently freezing half to death. Today was a bad day to wear a tank top. Shivering, he looked around, wondering where Frank was.

Just when he was about to give up and walk home, he heard a loud, “HEY!”

Spinning in that direction, he saw Frank jogging toward him. He let out a heavy sigh of relief, smiling. Frank skidded to a stop in front of him, and Gerard had to stifle a small giggle at the jacket he was wearing since it appeared way too big for him.

“Sorry ‘m late. Walked about halfway here, started shaking ‘cause of the damn cold, went back to get a jacket. Should’ve seen it coming,” Frank scratched the back of his neck, letting out that little pot giggle of his.

Gerard shook his head. “Nah, it’s fine. Is the place they’re performing in walking distance?”

Frank laughed. “You think I’d let you freeze out here? ‘Course it’s in walking distance. It’s only a couple minutes from here.”

Gerard held back the urge to say ‘you did’, and instead folded his lips, awkwardly shifting his eyes.

“Dude. Do you wanna go get a coat? You have to be, like, dying in what you’re wearing,” Frank commented, his expression filled with concern.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll live,” Gerard smiled, trying not to show that he flattered that Frank was worried about him. He rocked up and down on his feet, goose bumps forming on his arms.

“Hey, no, take mine,” Frank shrugged off the jacket, draping it over Gerard’s shoulders, close enough to the other man that his breath ghosted against his face and he could feel the body heat radiating off Frank. Shit. He smelled amazing.

Gerard, dizzy from Frank’s scent, pushed his arms through the jacket and zipped it up. 

Yeah, that was a lot better, and it wasn’t too small for him. Frank smiled and crossed his arms, looking up at Gerard.

“Ready? Concert starts in about,” Frank glanced at his watch, “thirty minutes.”

Gerard nodded. Frank briefly touched Gerard’s arm, sending shivers up his body, and walked past him. “C’mon, then!”

Gerard, face flushed, scurried after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this chapter was so short i am shit -patricksfump


	4. Chapter 4

Gerard wasn’t expecting much at the concert, honestly. Maybe a small bar in the basement of some kids house, with about 40 people, max. The Jersey scene, while it may be well known, really only existed because of the amount of kids willing to put up their favourite band on their living room floor for a couple nights in exchange of a show.

However, this show was a little more than Gerard was expecting. There had to be over a 100 kids milling around the small basement, spilling beer all over the place and buzzing with excitement. Gerard had heard of Thursday, everyone even vaguely interested in the scene know of Thursday. He had just never gotten out to see a show before today.

That was why he followed Frank around like a lost puppy, he told himself. Honestly, a lot of the kids there scared him, some of their hair was taller than him, and with their tall shoes, one might be able to squish him under their foot.

Frank seemed to notice that Gerard seemed out of his element, and took his hand, pulling him towards the side, where there was a small break in the crowd.

“You okay?” He asked, letting go of Gerard’s hand once they were free from the crowd.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Gerard smiled, though he was a bit uneasy. The sheer amount of people had thrown him off at first, but the general vibe of the basement was starting to sink in. “I’ll be good.”

Gerard nodded, and Frank grinned.

“Good, the band’s going to be coming out soon,” Frank paused, looking Gerard over with an amused glance. “You don’t come out to shows often, do you?”

Gerard shrugged weakly, and Frank laughed.

“S’alright dude, I’ll look after you. Just stay near me, we’ll hang near the back for most of it. You’ll be fine,” Frank reassured him, and Gerard nodded. He was about to respond when there was the feedback of a guitar being plugged in and the crowd surged forward, Frank and Gerard being pulled with it.

Frank was used to this, used to the rush, to the deep bass rushing through his bones. Gerard however, looked about ready to jump of his skin.

“Chill, Gerard. Just enjoy yourself!” Frank yelled over the music, leaning closer. Gerard felt his breath hitch as he did, but forced himself not to react, only grinning widely.

About half way through the set, Frank pulled him over to the bar and ordered both of them a beer. “To ease your nerves, shit dude, I don’t know how you’re still so tightly wound.”

Gerard laughed at the comment, but felt his stomach twist.

He didn’t want Frank to think he couldn’t enjoy himself, that he was scared of everything that Frank loved, even if he was. So, looking down at the bottle in his hand, he downed the whole thing in one swig. Gerard had drunk plenty of times to hide his fears, it wasn’t something he was unfamiliar with.  Usually though, he didn’t drink as much as he did that night.

The next morning he woke up on his bed, with no clue how he got home, and a tiny punk laying on his floor, still dead to the world. Somehow, Frank had managed to find the tiny bit of his floor not covered in clothing, drawings and various other junk that he barely remembered owning.

His head was pounding, and before even thinking of a reason why Frank was there, Gerard stumbled into the bathroom, and promptly threw up.

“Fuckin’ nasty, dude,” Mikey said, suddenly appearing in the doorway, and causing Gerard to almost slip from his knees to the floor.

“Shit, Mikey, what the hell?” Gerard said, holding himself firm on the toilet seat.

“I could say the same thing. You owe me so much coffee after calling me at two in the morning to come pick your drunk ass up, and your… whatever.” If Gerard wasn’t so hung over, he might appreciate his brother not caring about who he brought home, but his stomach didn’t allow him the time to. He was reeling over the toilet before he had a chance to respond, and when he looked back up, Mikey was holding out a cold glass of water.

“Drink that, and thank me later. Mom made breakfast before work, just heat it up in the oven whenever you pull yourself upstairs. I’m pretty sure there’s enough left for your friend as well. I’m going out.” And with that, Gerard was alone again.

Mostly.

Frank was rubbing his eyes and sitting up when he entered the bedroom again.

“Morning,” he said simply when he noticed Gerard standing in the doorway. “You look a little less than bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

“I feel it,” Gerard mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

“Not surprised, with the way you were drinking last night,” Frank shot back, standing up and stretching with a loud groan. “I didn’t feel like walking home last night, so your brother or whatever said I could sleep on your floor. Hope you don’t mind.”

“No no, I’m just… Well, I mean. There’s not much room… Or, whatever. I guess it didn’t really matter.” Gerard stumbled over his words, flushing, and Frank just laughed easily.

“S’okay man, don’t worry about it. My room is worse. I better be heading out though, my mom will be worrying.”

“Wait!” Gerard exclaimed, holding his hands out as if to physically stop Frank, even though he wasn’t moving. “My mom made breakfast, if you’re hungry. And… And my brother probably made coffee before he left. Y’know, if you wanna… I dunno, stay and have some, or whatever.”

Frank laughed again, and nodded. “Sure, why not? She’s probably at work anyway, knowing her.”

When Gerard and Frank walked downstairs, Gerard noticed that his mother wasn’t in the kitchen. He pursed his lips, shuffling over to the counter and grabbing a plate of pancakes.

“There’s some syrup in the fridge, if you want any,” Gerard said after a long, drawn-out silence.

“Oh, um, no, I’m good,” Frank replied. The room felt as if it was getting hot- at least for Gerard. They sat at the table, eating their pancakes in silence. Gerard glanced up at Frank a couple times and caught his eye once. His hazel eyes darted back down to his plate, where the half-eaten pancakes lay. His appetite lost, he pushed the plate away and stood up.

“Do you know exactly what happened last night?” Gerard asked, walking over to the other room and signaling Frank to follow.

“Uh…” Frank scrunched his face up, trying to remember. Following Gerard, he sat down on the couch, right next to him and way too close.

“Um, you’re-”

“Oh.” Frank moved away, and Gerard swore he could see his face turn red before he ducked his head down, avoiding his eyes.

“Anyway, um-”

Frank interrupted him. “Nothing really that important happened last night. This one guy kept trying to drag you off to have sex or something. Kicked him right in the nuts. He ran off crying like a baby.”

Gerard chuckled. “Anything else?”

“Well, you did guzzle down almost an entire bottle of beer last night. That couldn’t have been healthy. You were on the verge of fainting the entire night. Had to carry you, bridal style, at one point,” Frank smirked. Gerard blushed, mentally cursing himself for being too drunk to remember Frank carrying him.

“Can we change the subject?” Gerard quickly said, turning an even deeper shade of red for even thinking of how Frank’s hands would feel when they carried him, or on his own hands, his hips, maybe gripping his jaw…

Oh God, he was going to Hell.

Frank nodded. “Y’know what I realized?”

“What?”

“I just took you to a concert last night, and we barely know anything about each other,” Frank scoffed, facing him and crossing his legs on the couch. “Maybe we could play, like, a question game?”

Gerard held himself back from launching himself at Frank from how adorable he was. “Uh, sure. I’ll start?”

Frank nodded.

“Full name?” He asked, starting off with the basics.

“Frank Anthony Thomas Iero Jr.,” Frank answered with a smile.

“Mine’s Gerard Arthur Way. Yours is quite a mouthful,” Gerard giggled. Frank shrugged and laughed, briefly touching Gerard’s bicep. When he took his hand away, Gerard felt like his arm automatically got colder.

“Favorite food?”

“Curry,” Gerard answered rather quickly, grinning. “I fucking love curry.”

Frank smiled. “Worst fear?”

Gerard shuddered. “Needles.”

“Mine's spiders. They’re fuckin’ gross, dude. Needles I’m okay with, obviously,” Frank grinned, holding out his arms. Gerard was about to ask him his sexuality before Frank heard his phone vibrate in his pocket. He lifted it up.

“Damn. I forgot. I have to go see a friend now- we’re going out for lunch,” Frank got up and brushed himself off. “Gotta go home and shower. Will you be at the beach tomorrow?”

Gerard smiled up at him. “Y-yeah…”

Frank ruffled Gerard’s hair. “See you then, Gerard.”

With that, Frank left, shutting the door behind him. There was silence for a few moments. Then, Gerard grabbed one of the couch pillows, stuffed his face into it, and squealed rather loudly.


	5. Chapter 5

The following day was possibly the hottest day that summer. Gerard felt like he was physically melting into a puddle in the sand, his only refuge being the shade from the ridiculous grass roof. However, when the sun moved toward the water, he was blinded by its reflection off the waves, and the heat started to waft into the somewhat air conditioned room.

It had gotten to the point where he was lying his head on the freezer door, staring into the buckets of ice cream and willing himself not to climb in as well and become one with the dairy treats.

“Hey there Gee, you look about as hot as I feel.” Gerard heard someone say before he saw them, and shot up, wiping the condensation from the glass off his forehead and nose. Honestly, he had almost given up trying to look adult in front of Frank. The universe just didn’t want it to happen, apparently.

“Oh, uh, hey Frank. I… Yeah, I guess it’s pretty warm out, isn’t it?” Frank laughed, propping his board up against the side of the shack. “Hottest day of the summer, I heard someone say.”  Gerard was already grabbing a cone and scooping out Rocky Road, having learned Frank’s preference pretty quickly.

He handed the shorter man the cone a few seconds after he sat down, and Frank smirked over at him, taking it.

“Why Gerard, you shouldn’t have,” he said teasingly, and licking at the cone while he dug into his boardshorts pockets and pulled out a handful of loose change.

“Yeah, you… You gotta pay for that. I dunno, I just assumed, since you’re here, you wanted ice cream… Or whatever.” Gerard could feel his face heating, but forced himself to blame it on the heat.

“I got it, Gee, don’t worry about it. Here.” Frank handed over the handful of change, and Gerard started to count it out quietly, tossing the correct amount into the register. “Hey, hey, once I finish this, you should ditch and come surfing with me. Ray isn’t here today, and it sucks to go alone.”

As if he could sense the doubt beginning in Gerard’s gut, he put on his most puppy dog like face and stared up at Gerard with wide eyes, ignoring as his ice cream started to melt all over his hand. “Pleaaaase?”

Running a hand through his hair, Gerard thought, looking around the shack. Surprisingly, this was one of the slower days, since no one really wanted to go out of their air conditioned homes on a day like today. Only the crazy people went out.

Namingly, Frank and Gerard.

“Eh… I’ve never surfed before, Frank,” Gerard said after a moment, dropping his gaze to the floor, wiggling his toes in his sandals.  

“Oh, that doesn’t matter. I can teach you. C’mon, Gee, it isn’t that hard, it’ll be fun! Plus, there’s no one around to see you. Today’s like the best day to do it.” Frank stuck out his bottom lip and Gerard was done.

“Okay, fine,” he said, and Frank grinned brightly at him.

“I knew you can’t resist me. Come on then, get out of that shack, ice cream boy.” Gerard frowned at the nickname, he didn’t like it as much as the first, but wasn’t going to say anything. As long as Frank kept talking to him.

Locking up the register, he hopped over the counter, praising himself that he was able to do it, before promptly slipping off and falling almost face first into the sand.

“Whoa, you okay, Gee?” Frank jumped off the stool and grabbed his arm, helping him up.

“Fine!” Gerard squeaked and stood back up, brushing the sand that had gotten all over his black shirt, god damn it. Frank giggled under his breath, which Gerard took as permission to flick sand at him.

“Hey! You got sand in my ice cream!” Frank exclaimed, sounding offended and upset for a mere second before bursting out into loud laughter. Gerard knew that if there were anyone else on the beach, he would be embarrassed out of his mind, but with no other peering eyes around, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He gave himself the opportunity to admire how gorgeous Frank was when he was laughing, quickly schooling his face before his gaze could be noticed.

Gerard was sure that one look at him in that moment would say everything his mouth couldn’t, things such as ‘God you’re so fucking attractive, I hate you’, ‘I really want to kiss you and let you know how much you mean to me god damn it all.’, and the always classy ‘holy shit tie me to a bed and fuck me through the mattress.’

Frank finally calmed down and grabbed his board from the side of the shack, gesturing for Gerard to follow him down to where the water lovingly lapped at the same, pulling out and rushing back to the shore in almost the same instance.

“I don’t even have a board…” Gerard pointed out after a moment of watching the water, always too far away to really admire it. The sun was beating down on his head, starting to make him think about things that really, were _not the best things to be thinking right now god damn why does his ass look so good in those shorts._

Frank grinned over at him and gestured to his own board, setting it down in the sand.

“Well, this is a board, and you’re going to be using it.” He chuckled at Gerard’s embarrassed expression, before waving his hand. “We’ll take turns, or we can both use it. It can support both of us, don’t worry. Trust the waves, or whatever surfer bullshit usually works to get newbies to calm down.” He smiled winningly over at Gerard, covering his eyes from the sun.

“Right, okay… what’s the first thing I should know then?” Gerard asked nervously, looking down at the board in front of him.

“First, take off your shirt,” Frank instructed, and Gerard tensed up. Okay, he really wasn’t the thinnest person in the universe- not even close, actually. To add onto that, his body was covered in stretch marks.

“Um… can’t I keep it on?” He asked quietly, looking down and tracing his foot in the sand. Frank sighed and walked closer, putting a hand on Gerard’s shoulder. Gerard could feel his body heat up even more at the touch and _goddammit_ , he was sweating. He probably had sweat stains all over his shirt.

“C’mon, Gee. There’s no one around, and I don’t judge body types. You don’t have to be scared, Gerard,” insisted Frank, brows furrowing, “but… if you really, _really_ want to keep it on, go ahead.”

Gerard averted his gaze, stepping back from Frank and lifting his shirt off before he could change his mind. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, nearly having a heart attack once he noticed Frank’s grin. He blushed, trying to make it seem like it was due to the sun.

“Okay, so,” Frank said quickly, clapping his hands together. “What you want to do is get your upper body onto the surfboard, and don’t worry if your legs hang off at all. It probably means we need to get you a bigger one, ‘cause as you can see, I’m kinda tiny. I suggest positioning it in front of you and running in. It’s a little easier than trying to jump on it while it’s floating in the ocean.”

Gerard nodded, taking in Frank’s direction (but the only real reason Gerard was paying attention was due to the fact that he loved Frank’s voice so much). Frank picked up the board and held it in front of him, peeking at Gerard from the side. Gerard swore he almost spontaneously combusted from how adorable Frank looked.

“I’m gonna demonstrate first, then I’ll help you along when it’s your turn,” said Frank, grinning like an idiot. Gerard wanted to hug him. They started wading out to the water, Gerard jumping when the cool waves hit his upper thighs. Frank laughed slightly, glancing back at his panicked yelp.

“Yeah, it’s surprisingly chilly for such a hot day, hm?” He said, putting the board down in the water. “We don’t have to go any farther, just let me-” Frank hopped onto the board with ease, balancing himself as he sat up.

Gerard found his gaze on Frank’s chest, and quickly yanked his focus to the shorter boy’s face. Frank waggled his eyebrows before laying down on the board, and starting to paddle out a little farther. “You can stay here, just watch ‘nd stuff. Try to learn from watching?” He scrunched his nose, unable to figure out what he wanted to say, before continuing out toward the waves.

Standing in the water, his lower half trying not to freeze, while the upper half was probably tanning in the sun, much to Gerard’s disdain. However, he was too busy watching Frank pop up from the board, and slice along a wave, before it died and he fell off his board.

The water was empty for a quarter of a second, before Gerard saw Frank’s head bob up, and grab onto his board. The head began moving toward him, and soon the head had a body to match.

“See!” Frank chirped, much to happy for someone who had just been thrown into the water.

“Now it’s your turn, Gee!” He piped up after a moment of silence, and Gerard took a step back.

“I’m uh… I’m good, Frank. Thanks though. I think I’ll stay in the shallows,” he choked out, shaking his head. Frank pouted for a moment before shrugging.

“Suit yourself. Want to at least swim or something? It’s no fun surfing by yourself, y’know? Plus, I like your company.” The tiny punk spoke so unashamed, grinning up at Gerard. He gave in pretty easily.

“I…” He glanced back toward the shack, where there was approximately zero people waiting for him. “I guess I got time,” Gerard replied, before walking back toward Frank in the water. “Only for a while though, I do actually have to work.”

Of course, neither of them remembered that until the sun was well into setting, and the air around them started cooling. Frank prodded Gerard into getting out of the water, which was now warm compared to the air, and toward the small pile of their clothing.

Quickly, Gerard pulled on his vastly oversized shirt, feeling exposed now that there was no water to cover up his fleshy waist. He pretended not to notice the small pout on Frank’s face.

“I should probably get heading home… my shift probably ended a couple hours ago…” He dug his toes into the cool sand, while Frank nodded.

“S’okay. Um… could I catch a lift to my place? Ray usually drives me, but he was busy today, so I just walked, but now it’s late, and uh… yeah.” Gerard nodded, smiling over at Frank.

The drive home was quiet, though Frank was humming along to the radio for most of it. Gerard just couldn’t find anything to say, opting to just listen to the soft hums, until they came to a stop outside of Frank’s house.

“You’re working tomorrow, right?” Frank asked, sounding hopeful. Gerard nodded, and Frank got out of the car, carefully prying his surfboard out of the back.

“See you then,” he stated firmly, and Gerard smiled to himself.

“Goodnight, Frank.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the long wait friends!!! <3

Gerard woke up the next morning, and immediately felt like something was wrong. His alarm wasn’t going off, and the sun coming through the window was much brighter than it should have been. Rubbing his face, he sat up and groaned.

He was groggy, and the numbers on the clock face didn’t make sense with his blurry vision. Gerard rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and the numbers came into clarity.

He was late. Gerard was four hours late. Staring at his clock for a minute, he tried to figure out why his alarm hadn’t gone off. Within that minute, the numbers continued flashing at him until he realized that it wasn’t actually two in the afternoon; there had just been a power outage.

Which might have been worse than missing his alarm. Gerard forced his panic back down his throat, and crawled out of bed.

When he finally found a clock that hadn’t been reset, he realized that he was only an hour late, which was bad, but excusable since the power went out overnight. He made it out the door within a couple minutes, and was at the beach in less than a half hour. Parking his car, he almost ran across the beach when he saw someone standing in front of the shack, fearful that it was his boss checking up on him, or a customer who was going to yell at him for being late, because _how dare he stand between anyone and their ice cream at 11:00 a.m._

As he drew closer, he realized that it was only Frank, and he probably didn’t mind waiting. That thought almost made Gerard stop in his tracks. He was starting to consider Frank a friend, which was strange, because he didn’t like having friends. They would get too close, and then just when Gerard would be lulled into needing them around, that friend would disappear. It’s a tried and true routine, one that had broken Gerard time and time again.

Thankfully, he hadn’t had to deal with a breakup yet. If friends abandoning him required ice cream and a Star Wars marathon, he didn’t want to think about someone he loved enough to date leaving him.

“Hello there, sleepy head. You ignoring me for a reason, or are you just tired?” Frank piped up, and Gerard hadn’t even realized he had been talking before. He jumped, and Frank just shook his head, laughing.

“Don’t worry about it. You had a busy day yesterday.” Frank winked with a sly grin, and Gerard felt his face heating up, even though he knew that swimming together wasn’t really that bothersome. Frank liked to play with the fact that he was easily embarrassed, apparently. He couldn’t be flirting; no one would want to flirt with Gerard.

“I’m not trying to ignore you, just tired and busy. My power went out last night, so my alarm didn’t go off, so now I’m late, and someone’s going to get angry at me for being late, because they have to have their ten a.m. ice cream,” Gerard ranted, and Frank just nodded, listening closely. Once he was finally done, letting out a big breath, Frank pursed his lips and nodded to himself.

"I’ll help you, and we’ll get everything set up. It’ll be nothing,” he stated decisively and let himself behind the counter. Gerard was still gaping at him.

“You what?”

"I’ll help. Come on, it’s not that hard to figure out. Did the extra few hours of sleep mess with your head or something?” Frank replied with a wide grin, gesturing around the small space of the shack. “So where do we start?”  

Gerard quickly explained everything they had to do, which wasn’t a lot in actuality but felt like hours of work at the time. He couldn’t help but glance over at Frank every few minutes. He looked like he had already been in the water, but it must still be too early for that, if Gerard was shivering on the beach. Of course, Frank looked just fine.

Working together turned out fine, and Gerard wasn’t as stressed over it anymore, but his mind was preoccupied with other things. However, it didn’t help that the subject of his thoughts was standing a few feet away, brushing his stupid floppy mohawk thing out of his face every few seconds.

It would be aggravating if it wasn’t so attractive. He felt like he was going to melt every time it happened, like the ice cream in his hand had begun to.

“Shit!” Gerard exclaimed, quickly dumping the ice cream into the trash bin. He glanced toward Frank from his sticky hands, and it seemed like he was trying not to laugh from behind his hand. Gerard flushed again, and turned away, but a soft hand turned him around again.

“Here, let me help with that,” Frank said as he brought Gerard’s hand up to his mouth, and _holy shit what is happening oh my god_. Gerard almost fell to the floor when his palm got close enough to Frank’s mouth that he could feel his breath.

"Gerard?” Frank asked, and Gerard was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts back to the real world. “You okay there, buddy?”  

“Y-yeah…” Gerard stammered, his face beet red, and what he hoped wasn’t an obvious hard-on. “All good!” He sent Frank a thumbs up and then almost beat his head against the counter because _really Gerard? A fucking thumbs up? What are you, five?!_

The day had gotten off to a rocky start, to say the least, but it smoothed out fairly quickly with Frank’s cheerful remarks. He left when his other friend arrived, sending Gerard a bright grin and wink while he picked up his board from its spot beside the shack.

"See you in a bit, Gee!”

Gerard found himself mindlessly waving after him (y’know, in that way you’d see a teenage girl wave to her boyfriend as he walks off after kissing her) before he collected himself and returned to his workspace.

After a few minutes of nothing, he began to tidy up the shack. He swept sand off the floor and out the entrance, mopping up stray pools of ice cream that had dripped from the large container. As he was in the middle of organizing his workbag full of drawings, he heard someone clear their throat at the front counter.

“Excuse me?” A feminine voice spoke out nervously, the sound soft and breezy. Gerard hopped up from the chair that was sat in the corner and walked to the front, smiling with his mouth closed; he’d picked up a habit of doing that due to the sheer amount of people who commented on his small teeth.

"Yes, may I help you?” Gerard asked, rocking back and forth on his feet. Glancing at his phone, he noticed it was noon, so people would start to roll in to go swimming as the day got hotter. This was probably just a normal customer who wanted a strawberry cone or whatever.

“Um… did you see a guy here a few minutes ago? With the, uh, mohawk and tattoos? Frank is his name,” the woman explained, and Gerard began to study her, starting to get suspicious. She had a dark skin tone and it definitely wasn’t from the sun; it was just a bit too dark. Freckles covered her arms and her face, across her button nose and cheeks, down her arms and legs. She had hazel eyes and full, pink lips, her eyelashes dark enough to combat Gerards’. She was short and a bit chubby, but she wore her bikini like she _belonged_ in it.

Gerard wondered if she was a friend of Frank’s or maybe something else, but that thought didn’t last long as he heard pounding footsteps on the sand.

"Harmony!” He heard a familiar voice shout, not having time to react as Frank ran in and enveloped her in a huge hug. “I haven’t seen you in AGES!”

"Gosh, I know, Frankie. It’s been way too long. I got accepted into one of the nicer colleges around here, so it looks like I’m back for good,” the girl—Harmony, he reminded himself—said happily. They started talking rather quickly, so Gerard began to back away, feeling uncomfortable and out of place. He felt as if he was unwanted.

“Gerard, c’mere,” Frank suddenly said, startling Gerard from his thoughts for the second time that day. “This is Harmony. We, uh, dated a couple years back.”

Gerard saw Frank glance at Harmony and grin nervously. Harmony giggled and shook her head, her kinky hair swishing along with it, while Gerard’s stomach dropped.

Wait, what? Why was he even worrying? It’d be nice if they got back together, and it looked like they were going to; Harmony seemed like a nice girl, and Frank seemed to like her.

Even so, why did Gerard feel so unsure about this whole thing?

"So, um… do you want… ice cream?” Gerard hesitantly spoke up, and Frank shot him another one of his toothy grins.

“My usual. I’m guessing a mint chocolate chip for you, Harmony?” Frank told Gerard, looking over at Harmony for clarification. It was just then that Gerard realized how short Harmony actually was; she was at least a third of a foot shorter than Frank, and Frank was tiny (at least compared to most adult men). Gerard studied his hands for a bit before Harmony responded.

"You know me too well, I-air-o,” Harmony said, pronouncing his last name incorrectly. Gerard was about to correct her before Frank laughed and gently pushed her shoulder, making her stumble a bit. It seemed to be a joke. Gerard blushed; he was getting far too defensive. Gerard shook his head at himself and went over to get two cones, serving Harmony first to be polite and Frank second.

“Picking favorites, G? Can’t blame you, though. She’s a pretty one,” Frank giggled, and Harmony punched him in the arm, scrunching up her nose. Gerard’s face turned a deeper shade of red at the insinuation and he wildly shook his head, suddenly becoming conscious of how much he needed to wash his hair. He didn’t want to look bad in front of Frank’s girlfr— ex-girlfriend.

“Hey, um… what’s your name, sir?” Harmony asked, smiling up at Gerard— _and goddammit her teeth were not supposed to be better than Gerards’ that wasn’t fair_ —and blowing a curly strand out of her face.

“Gerard,” he replied quickly, conscious of almost every detail of himself now. He felt so insecure that he was most likely going to blow up, along with the shack, and the place where the shack used to be would just be a pile of sand where nothing else ever existed. At least then Gerard wouldn’t have to be so conflicted of why he felt so uncomfortable around this perfectly nice lady.

“Well, Gerard,” Harmony said with another smile, “Frank and I are gonna go swim, ‘cause I bet him ages ago that I could swim faster, but I had to leave before it could be confirmed. I still haven’t forgotten, Frankie. You’re royally fucked, kiddo.”

“I’m older,” Frank pouted, sticking his tongue out at her. “I’ve got experience, too. I wasn’t away for two years in New York.”

"You’ve forgotten the lovely existence of indoor pools. Anyway, it was really nice meeting you, Gerard. I hope I get to see you again,” said Harmony rather quickly, seeming to be in a hurry. She gave Frank a look, but they were gone before Gerard could figure out what that _look_ was.

Gerard sighed and, trying not to stress himself too much, got back to work. Yet the same thought still lingered:

_Why am I so concerned about their relationship?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long, my only excuse is that I've had exams.

“So, Gerard,” Harmony prompted, smiling as if she knew something that Frank didn’t. She leaned back, gently moving her arms just enough to keep her head above water.

“What about ‘im?” Frank replied, floating on his board a couple feet away from her.

“Oh, nothing, don’t worry about it. He seems nice.” She paused before turning to face him once more. “We should go see a movie, since I’m in town. Just like old times, but more actually paying attention and a _lot_ less making out, okay? You should invite Gerard.”

Frank smiled to himself, nodding. “Yeah, that would be nice. You would like Gerard, he’s a lot like you. You’re both huge fucking nerds.” Harmony kicked his board, effectively knocking him into the water, while he was too busy laughing to stop the rush of water coming into his mouth. He surfaced, sputtering, but still wearing a smirk.

“I’m not sure if I’m more upset that you called me or Gerard a nerd. Maybe Gerard and I will just go see a movie ourselves, and you can sit in your room and mope.”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a nerd! I’m always up for a good Star Wars marathon, you know me,” Frank replied, climbing back onto his board. “I’ll ask him about it in a bit, what movie?”

“I don’t know, we’ll decide when we get there,” Harmony responded, looking up at the sky and frowning. “I got to get going, my family is going out to dinner to celebrate my being home, or something like that. I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay? Let’s meet there at around 7.” She waved, beginning to walk toward the shore. Frank agreed, and turned toward deeper waters in which higher waves lay.

When he finally emerged from the water, the sun was low in the sky, and the beach was pretty much empty, besides his stuff sitting near the ice cream stand, where Gerard had promised to watch it, and Gerard himself, who was leaning on the counter and drawing in his sketchbook.

Frank paused a couple feet away, watching as he concentrated on his book, lip captured between his teeth as he shaded something on the paper. After a couple more seconds of dripping onto the sand, Frank approached the counter, and took a seat on one of the stools. He could help but notice that Gerard had been drawing something that looked vaguely like him, but couldn’t get a close enough look before Gerard slammed the book shut and shoved it into his bag.

“Hey,” Frank spoke first, pretending that he didn’t notice how panicked Gerard became as soon as Frank spotted his notebook. Gerard smiled at him, setting his bag down. “You wanna go see a movie tomorrow?”

Gerard’s face looked a little red, but Frank marked it up to the sun, spinning a bit in the stool. “Harmony wanted to go see something and suggested I invite you.” His smile was gone, as Gerard shuffled a little while looking into the glass counter at the different ice cream flavours.

“Oh… no, I’m okay. She was probably just trying to be nice, don’t worry about it,” he replied, fiddling with the pencil that was still on the counter. “I mean, what are you going to see anyway? I don’t even know what’s in theatres right now.”

“No, no, she really does want you to come. She was pretty adamant about that. C’mon, I’ll even pay for you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Frank insisted, pouting. Gerard glanced at his lips, and crumbled. He had many weaknesses, okay, and Frank happened to be one of them.

“Really?” He asked cautiously, not wanting to intrude in what was probably a date, since Harmony and Frank seemed to like each other a lot still, and were probably rekindling their relationship. Frank nodded though, lower lip still sticking out, almost pleading with Gerard to say yes. “I… I guess I could come. You don’t have to worry about paying for me, I mean, I have a job and everything so I can afford it.” Frank pursed his lips, and _Gerard was about to melt into the sand damn it._

“Hey, I wasn’t worried in the first place. It’ll be my treat, okay? If you’re almost ready to head home, I could walk with you…” Frank trailed off, raising an eyebrow. Gerard’s face was red again, but he nodded and picked his bag back up, tossing the pencil in and stepping out from behind the counter.

“You don’t have to walk with me, I’m pretty sure I’m more intimidating than you,” he said, smiling over at Frank who scoffed.

“Yeah, maybe if you dyed your hair and didn’t act like a scared baby deer every time someone talked to you. But hey, maybe that’s what I like about you.” Frank froze, but Gerard didn’t notice, too preoccupied with his own reaction. His heart was going roughly a thousand miles an hour, pounding so hard in his chest he swore Frank could hear it.

“Okay, maybe you’re right about that. How would you fight someone off, though? You’re tiny,” Gerard managed to reply after a pause almost too long to bear, face even darker than before.

“I’m lower to someone’s point of gravity, if I wanted to I could get someone to the ground pretty easily.” Frank hopped off of his stool, and Gerard was given a full view of his tattooed chest, and he wanted to taste the colourful skin, wanted to feel it between his teeth as he worked his way down Frank’s skin, to the place he really wanted to see, to taste.

He forced his thoughts to stop there, because Frank was _right there_. “Alright, thanks then,” Gerard choked out, gaze firmly to the floor.

“So, you are coming to the movies, I’ll pick you up at 6:50? Harmony wants to meet at 7:00 tomorrow,” Frank said, picking up his bag from the sand, and fishing around for a shirt. Gerard wanted to say it was fine, but he also liked to have intelligent conversations, and wouldn’t be able to manage it if his gaze kept going to Frank’s chest every five seconds. He was an artist, and Frank was a work of art himself, he had an excuse to look.

“Yeah, yeah I can do that.”

Frank grinned, and tugged his shirt over his head, and swung his bag onto his back, and picked up his surfboard, nodding his head to signify that they could start walking.

The walk was quiet, mostly. They talked about a few things, but it was just a peaceful quiet that had settled between them. Gerard enjoyed it, being able to look around at the scenery, and sneak a few peeks at Frank without looking too weird. When they finally reached his door, Gerard didn’t want to leave.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Frank asked, smiling hopefully, and Gerard nodded. “Awesome, I’ll see you at 6:50. You’re off, I think.” Frank frowned to himself, seeming to count the days to himself before nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah.”

Gerard didn’t question why Frank had his schedule memorized, he was too distracted by Frank looking up at him, eyes full of curiosity and joy. “Yeah, I’m off. See you then, thanks for walking me home.” He hesitated on the doorstep another moment, before going inside as Frank walked away, heading back the way they had come.

That night while laying in bed, Gerard realized that he had probably wanted a drive, and that was the only reason he had walked all the way to Gerard’s place.

“Fuck,” Gerard groaned, and rolled over to bury his face in a pillow.

When Gerard awoke in the morning, it was well past noon, and his mom had already left for work. He and Mikey were the only two left in the house, if the loud tapes were any sort of indication. Listening from the comfort of his bed was nice for a while, until his stomach started growling louder than the music.

“Alright, fuck, I’ll feed you,” Gerard grunted, and dragged himself out of bed, pulling on a pair of pants and an old, ratty t-shirt. When he got upstairs, Mikey was laying on the couch, and it seemed that he was asleep, but Gerard knew better. “Hey, you want some coffee?” He called over the loud music, and Mikey’s head moved in an affirmative.

Once he had made the coffees and grabbed some toast, he went back into the living room, handing Mikey his coffee and shoving his legs out of the way. They sat for a while, listening to the music, Gerard setting his toast down and grabbing one of the sketchbooks that had been sitting on the table, and flipping through it.

“Hey, I’ve seen these art pieces around that use coffee and tea as paint. You should try that,” Mikey said, glancing over to him and Gerard raised his eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste of coffee?” He replied, looking over the sketchbook at him. “I would rather drink it than put it on paper.” Mikey shrugged, leaning back on the couch again.

“It was just a suggestion. So who’s that guy that keeps walking home with you?” He turned so his back was against the arm of the couch, mirror Gerard's position, who poked his brother’s foot with his toes. Gerard's face flushed immediately, and he hid behind the book again. “Oh, it’s like that. I see.”

“No it’s not!” Gerard exclaimed, frowning as he looked over the top of the book again. “He’s just nice, okay? He likes this girl anyway, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.” He tried not to sound upset about it, but it obviously wasn’t working.

“Oh yeah? Then how come he doesn’t walk her home?”

“I don’t know, Mikey, god. How’s Pete?” That shut Mikey up pretty easily, and they went back to listened to the tapes. About five minutes later, Gerard poked Mikey’s foot again. “He asked me to the movies tonight with her…” Mikey sent him a small smile, nodding. That was the extent of their conversation, before Gerard decided he should go and get ready.

Debating with himself on whether or not he should take a shower took a better part of an hour most times, but a small sniff of himself had him convinced. He ended up inking one of his comics during the time he had to spare before Frank arrived, and didn’t even notice that his hands were covered in ink stains until they were waiting outside the movie theatre for Harmony. “You sure that she said 7?”

“I’m completely sure,” Frank replied, frowning lightly. He glanced into the mall where there was a clock on the wall, his frown deepening. “If we don’t go now though, we won’t be able to get in. We’ve probably already missed the previews.” He turned, nodding his head to indicate that Gerard should follow.

Once they settled into the cushy theatre seats, the lights were already dim and the previews were already started. After a shuffle to situate the popcorn between them, they fell quiet once the movie started. They didn’t talk during the movie, and the only thing that made Gerard remember that he wasn’t alone in his basement was the occasional crinkle of the popcorn bag, and the brush of Frank’s arm against his.

At one point, Gerard felt movement against him, and Frank’s arm was moving to go across his shoulders, until he heard the women next to him make a quiet noise of discomfort and surprise.

“Sorry! Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean-” Frank hissed, leaning forward to look past Gerard, and being shushed by the teenager in front of them. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” He stopped himself, and quickly pulled his hands back into his lap, staring down at his hands. Gerard was trying to hold back his laughter, his face so red Frank could probably see it even in the dark theatre.

“Smooth.” Gerard whispered, and got a light punch on his shoulder.

 

***

 

“Okay, how can you not see it, Frank? They’re completely head over heels for each other!” Gerard exclaimed, taking one hand off the wheel to run through his hair. “You must be blind or something; you can literally see the tension.”

“Well, I mean-” Frank started, but Gerard didn’t let him finish the sentence, though Frank just smiled and shook his head. He completely agreed with Gerard, but he loved watching how passionate he got about things like this.

“Honestly, have you even read the books? Seamus and Dean are literally written to be together, and the movies just prove it,” he insisted, both hands now firmly on the wheel. “I mean, they avoid talking about it, but it’s there in the conversations if you read between the lines. C’mon, don’t tell me that you don’t see it.” Frank held up both hands in innocence, a smug smile still on his face.

“Never said that, you just assumed that I didn’t. I agree completely, man. They’re made for each other.”

“R-Right,” Gerard stuttered, nodding. Frank chuckled, looking out the front window.

“Anyone could see it from the first book; some people are just caught in the world of the heterosexuals…” he trailed off, staring forward.

“Do you… do you not consider yourself…” Gerard started, suddenly nervous.

“What?” Frank asked, turning to look at him, and his stare was so intense, Gerard could have sworn he was disappearing into his seat.

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He quickly averted his own gaze to the road once more, keeping it firmly forward. Frank licked his lips, getting the faint taste of movie theater popcorn, and groaned softly.

“Why’s the popcorn always so expensive? I mean, I get it’s good, but is it really worth it? I can get a movie ticket for cheaper, and that’s supposed to be the actual reason people go to the theatre, right?” Frank ranted, leaning his head against the back of the seat.

“Yeah, I guess you could think of it like that. I don’t know, lots of people bring their own shit into the movie, and it’s a smart idea, don’t get me wrong, but it tastes so much better warm. It almost makes up for the price.” Gerard was thankful that Frank hadn’t hounded him to continue the question, and they settled into friendly conversation fairly easily.

Gerard pulled into Frank’s driveway, and put the car into idle. “So, this is your stop,” Gerard stated, his voice softer than intended.

“Oh… right.” Frank replied, trying to sound normal. He didn’t want to leave Gerard, not now, maybe not ever. “Well… we could go for a walk or something, to talk some more about the whole Seamus and Dean thing.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gerard frowned, shaking his head. Frank’s throat seized, and he gave a small nod.

“Yea-”

“It’s too cold for that with the breeze, why don’t we just drive around or even just sit here with the heating on?” Frank was thankful for being interrupted, and flopped back against the seat in relief. The conversation could have gone on for hours, if Gerard’s phone didn’t start beeping angrily at him, the word “Mikey” lighting up the dim car.

“Oh, shit!” He exclaimed, grabbing the phone and flipping it open. “What’s up, what’s going on, are you okay?” Frank didn’t mean to listen in to the conversation, but the car was quiet, and he couldn’t help but hear every word that Mikey said, though Gerard didn’t need to know that.

“Nothing’s wrong Gerard, chill out. You better have your pants on, and be getting your ass home, or mom is going to flip. You said you were going to be back three hours ago.” Mikey’s low, monotone voice emitted from the phone, and Gerard seemed to go even paler than before.

“Fuck, I’ll be right home.”

“So you did have your pants off.”

“Mikey!” Any blood that had drained from Gerard’s face had now returned, and multiplied, cheeks and neck turning a brighter red than Frank had seen so far.

“See you in a bit.” The call ended with a sharp beep, and Frank raised an eyebrow at Gerard, whose face was a spectacular colour of red. He stammered for a minute with what to say, and Frank shook his head lightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, right? I… I had a really good time, thanks for not bailing when Harmony didn’t show up.” Gerard smiled at him, and nodded.

“No problem Frank. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Frank grinned back, and hopped out of the car. He didn’t go inside until he saw Gerard’s car turn the corner.

“Fuck,” he whispered, and went inside.


	8. Chapter 8

Gerard was still jittery from the night before when he arrived at work. He came earlier than usual due to nerves, plus the fact he woke up early, so there was no point in staying home. As he set up the shop, he noticed someone coming toward him. He set down his bag and hopped up onto his stool, patiently waiting.

“Hey, Gerard!” The person called out, and when they neared, he noticed the familiar fuzzy hair and dark skin. _Harmony_.

Gerard froze, looking down as Harmony hopped up onto the stool directly opposite him. When Gerard mustered the courage to look up at her, Harmony met him with a smug grin, causing confusion to swirl inside Gerard. The hell was that smile supposed to mean? She ditched them the night before and made both of them watch Harry Potter in a (mostly) awkward silence, and now she was _smiling_?

“So, Gerard,” Harmony started, her smile growing. Gerard already started to grow irritated, and Harmony just made it worse. “How was the movie?”

Baffled, Gerard stared at her, blinking once in a while. Harmony kept direct eye contact with Gerard and kept the smile, a mischievous glint in her eye. What the actual fuck. Gerard didn’t want to dislike her, but she was making it really hard.

“...It was… good?” Gerard managed, fiddling with his stringy hair, tugging his lower lip into his mouth. He wanted to bring up the fact that Harmony had bailed on them, but also didn't really like the idea of confronting her. She seemed the type to be able to think up a response in seconds, and make Gerard feel like a fool. 

“Good. Has Frank been by yet?” She continued smiling, until Gerard shook his head, and her smile lost a bit of its mischief. 

“He’s not usually here this early.” He realized a second after the words left his mouth that it seemed as if he kept track of when Frank arrived. He proceeded to rush in order to cover it up. “I mean, most people aren’t really at the beach this early, so it’s not that-”

“Hey guys!” Frank walked up to the shack, effectively stopped Gerard mid sentence. “What are we talking about?” He asked, and both Harmony and Gerard rushed to answer before the other.

“Last night.”

“Nothing!” 

Frank looked between the two of them, face full of confusion, but then shook his head, smiling at Gerard and obviously writing it off as unimportant. “You mean the movie, right? What’s there to talk about, if you didn’t even bother to show up?” He turned to Harmony again, his smile gone and his gaze icey. “I thought we were hanging out, and I wanted you and Gerard to get to know each other, and I ended up looking stupid when you didn’t show up.”

“I didn’t mind-” Gerard started, but Frank quickly glanced at him, communicating ‘shut the hell up’ fairly well through raised eyebrows. 

“Something came up, come on, Frankie, you can’t blame me for something like that! Plus, I thought you two could have a good time without me, you know.” Harmony wiggled her own eyebrows, and Frank’s eyes widened. He put a hand on her shoulder, nodding in a direction away from the ice cream shack. 

“We’ll be back, I just need to have a talk with Harmony,” Frank said over his shoulder, but Gerard had already gone back to focusing on something else, picking at the lint on his pants as soon as Frank and Harmony began arguing. He glanced up and nodded before going back to the lint, sighing heavily. 

In his rush to leave that morning, Gerard had forgotten his bag, meaning that he had nothing to entertain him while waiting for customers. Last time that happened, he had discovered Frank. While that wasn’t exactly the worst thing that could have happened, he didn’t want something like that to happen again. He was already stuck with one hopeless crush; adding another to the mix would just add to the trouble. 

He kept himself occupied by cleaning up the shack, which had, admittedly, gotten a little messy. He had been distracted by Frank during working hours. That kept him busy until rush hour. 

Once rush had calmed down, Gerard found both Harmony and Frank standing by the shack, dripping onto the warm sand on their feet. Harmony looked pleased with herself while Frank looked a little embarrassed. 

“Hey, Gerard!” Harmony exclaimed happily when he noticed them standing there, picking up one of the scoops. “Could I get a mint chocolate chip cone? Frank wants his usual, obviously.” Harmony grinning brightly at him, and Gerard nodded without a word, going about his job quickly. He hated working in the sun, working with people, and really just the job in general. Although, it was a job, and he tried to do his best at jobs. The money kept him in art supplies. 

“So, Frank has something to ask you,” Harmony began while hanging over some change in exchange for her ice cream, Frank grabbing his own before she could take it from Gerard. He dug a toe into the sand, and ate a little ice cream, buying himself time. Harmony rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything, leaning against the counter as she licked her ice cream, humming in appreciation. 

Eventually, Frank couldn’t waste anymore time, as Harmony shoved his shoulder gently, gesturing towards the water. “If you don’t hurry it up, I’m gonna leave you here and go surfing myself.” 

“Fine, fine! Gerard, Harmony is having a party for her Jersey friends, and she wanted to know if-” Harmony punched his shoulder, and Frank let out a loud ‘Ow!’ before sighing, and correcting himself. “I wanted to know, if you would come with me?” Gerard opened his mouth to respond, but Frank kept talking. “It’s just that the people she’s invited probably don’t really like me, due to our history or whatever, which doesn’t make any sense, since she broke up with me, but whatever.” 

Gerard raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on how it didn’t make sense that because of those reasons, he wanted to bring Gerard. He didn’t really think of it as his business, though it might be nice for the explaination to be ‘to show those guys that I’ve upgraded, and that I’m doing just fine thank you,’ but that could stay in his imagination.

“Sure, why not?” He accepted, and Frank looked like he didn’t believe him for a second, before nodding with a happy smile. Harmony smirked, but didn’t comment, finishing up her ice cream, and wiping her hands on a paper towel. “Just let me know when and everything like that, and I’ll drive us.” 

“Oh, it’s tonight, sweetie,” Harmony spoke up for the first time, and Gerard nodded. He didn’t comment on the nickname, though it reminded him of his mother. “Now, I gotta get going, but I’ll see you both at 9, alright?” She nodded when both of them agreed, and left, grabbing her board from the side of the shack and walking up the beach to the parking lot. 

Frank finished up his ice cream a little while later, though it reached the point of almost melting all over his hand. He was too busy talking with Gerard to actually eat it. Eventually, he had to leave as well, and Gerard closed up shop. Small, panicked thoughts appeared at random times as he drove home to get ready. 

It took all of 5 minutes for Mikey to notice how nervous he was, and Gerard had already locked himself in his room by that time, trying to find his least dirty, party acceptable clothing. After another half hour of searching, he remembered that Mikey had borrowed his Black Flag shirt, and finally let his brother into the room in exchange for the shirt. 

Once he was ready, he glanced at the clock and cringed when it read ‘8:57’. While he wasn’t the most prompt guy, he did like to be on time for things when other people were depending on him. When he arrived at Frank’s house five minutes late, he found Frank sitting on the porch step, and felt immensely worse. 

“Sorry I’m late, I just got caught up talking to my brother and everything,” Gerard said once Frank got into the car, frowning to himself when Frank shook his head. 

“It’s fine dude, shit happens. Either way, maybe the lateness will make up for Harmony skipping out on last night,” Frank replied, and leaned back in the passenger seat, looking out the window as Gerard took the opportunity to look him over. He was wearing a band t-shirt that Gerard had heard of, but never listened to, and loose jeans. He looked good, and Gerard felt almost bad at his own state. 

He tugged at his messy hair as he pulled out of the driveway, hyperactively aware that he had forgotten to at least run a comb through it before he left the house. The drive wasn’t long, maybe about ten minutes between the two houses. Frank filled the time by informing him about some of the people they would meet, and why they were important in Frank's life.

Gerard didn’t even have to ask which house it was when they pulled up, the large amount of cars parked on the road and lawn being indication enough.

Gerard caught Frank glancing over at him, looking away soon after Gerard made eye contact with him. Frank fiddled with his lip ring as he parked the car on the side of the road, pulling it into his mouth. Gerard watched him, breath catching in his throat.

“You look good.” Frank spoke up, and Gerard looked down, his face heating up. God, he hated how he looked when he blushed. “I mean, I, uh. Messy hair looks good. On you.”

Gerard looked up at Frank, eyes widened to a comical size, before Frank quickly unlocked the car and got out. Stunned, he didn’t even notice when Frank opened the door for him, his blush spreading. He thanked Frank under his breath, shoving his hands in his jean pockets and standing up. He’d noticed he forgot his sweatshirt, glancing down at his stomach once in a while, sucking in a large breath.

“You alright?” Gerard perked up when he heard Frank speak. He nodded and let Frank direct him to the front door. Before either of them could even knock, the door opened, and they were both pulled in.

“About time you got here!” Harmony exclaimed over the loud music in the back. It was rap, and Gerard didn’t mind the guy they played, so he didn’t mind. Looking down at Harmony, he complimented on her Grateful Dead tank top. He averted his eyes when he noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra, knowing she’d probably gotten enough attention for that already.

“Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t matter. They’re tits. Tits exist.” Harmony waved her hand, shaking her head. She’d straightened her hair and tied it up into a bun, making her appear a lot different than before. She pulled down her striped shorts and pulled them both farther into the house. Gerard was about to reply to her comment before Frank interrupted.

“TRAVIE!” He blurted, going past Gerard to hug a tall, tall man with tattoos and piercings. Travie laughed and ruffled Frank’s hair, hugging him and patting his back.

“Hey there, little man! How’re you?” Gerard heard Travie ask, surprised by how calm he sounded. He didn’t even need to yell.

Feeling awkward, Gerard turned to leave the room and get a soda. He felt someone grab his wrist and turned to see it was Frank, right next to him. “Sorry. I was saying hi to Travie. Haven’t seen him in ages.”

Gerard smiled reassuringly, feeling his wrist warm up from where Frank held it. He looked down, nodding quickly. “Y-yeah. Yeah. That’s not a problem. Don’t worry about me.”

Frank touched Gerard’s shoulder, and Gerard felt as if he were going to faint. “No, hey, this is your first party with me and a bunch of people you don’t know. I want you to have a good time.” He squeezed Gerard’s hand and whoops, okay, Gerard couldn’t think anymore. His brain decided to short out and rot in his head. He was so, _so_ utterly far gone on this man. There wasn’t any way to escape.

Frank opened his mouth to say something else, but a body decided to slam into Gerard, making him stumble a bit. A pair of arms wrapped around his middle, and Gerard turned, trying to see who decided to clobber him.

“Pete?” He exclaimed, dumbfounded as two large brown eyes made contact with his. He saw the boy grin and back up, holding his arms up.

“Hey, Gerard! I didn’t know you were gonna be here! Hey, did Mikey come with you? Where is he? Can I talk to him?” Pete rambled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I had like, three Red Bulls.”

Gerard rolled his eyes in an affectionate manner, ruffling Pete’s hair. “I already know you’re hot for my brother, and no, he’s at home. If you need me to pass something to him, tell me.” Pete grinned even wider, hugging Gerard again. Pete was about the size of Frank, so Gerard decided to sin and think of Frank in his place. He shook his head to dismiss the thought.

“Yeah, hell yeah. Okay, wait, I have his number. Nevermind, Gee, I’m fine,” Pete blabbered. It was then that Gerard noticed Frank was directly next to him. He felt him tense up when Pete called him “Gee”, looking down to see his fists clenching. 

As Pete scampered away, Gerard turned and put a hand on Frank’s shoulder, surprising himself with the action. “Hey, are you okay, Frank?”

Frank relaxed, looking up at Gerard with a small smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Completely fine. I’m great,” he sputtered, drawing his lip ring into his mouth again. Gerard would be dead by the end of that year because of that goddamn lip ring.

“Hey, guys! Come in here!” They both turned when they heard Harmony call from the other room, waving her hands. “I’ve got a game we can play!”

Frank looked at Gerard and shrugged, taking his hand and pulling him in the direction of Harmony’s voice. Gerard squeaked quietly, staring down at Frank’s hand. He could only imagine the things he could do with those goddamn fingers.

When they entered the other room, about ten to fifteen people sat in a circle, including Travie and Pete. Harmony put a bottle in the middle of the circle and smirked over at the two. Gerard’s eyes got big, incoherent syllables escaping his lips as he tried to back away. He’d never kissed anyone before, and he loathed the idea of kissing a stranger whom he didn’t know.

“Hey, Gerard, it’s just a game. You can back out if you really want to. Just try and play, alright?” Frank whispered, smiling sweetly. Okay, Frank left Gerard at a dead end now, because who could resist that smile? Gerard sure couldn’t.

“...Fine,” Gerard sighed, noticing that Harmony started clearing room for them. Frank and Gerard sat across from each other and Gerard twiddled his thumbs nervously, staring up at Frank. Frank gave him a small thumbs up as Harmony leaned forward, resting the pads of her fingertips against the bottle.

“I’ll go first,” Harmony announced, spinning it. She watched it with anticipation and blushed when she noticed it landed on the girl next to her. The girl had circular framed glasses on, her skintone was slightly darker than Harmony’s, and her hair was dyed a pastel pink. She had it tightly braided and tied up into two buns. Anyone could tell she was cute. “We gonna do this, Deidra?”

Deidra smirked and leaned over, taking Harmony’s hand and moving closer. “Would I ever say no to you?”

With that, they started kissing, Deidra’s hand on Harmony’s thigh. Gerard noticed her squeeze a bit, and he blushed, looking away and scratching the back of his neck. Harmony let out a small squeak, giggling against Deidra’s lips and nibbling on her lower lip. They all heard a guy wolf whistle in the back and Deidra lifted her hand, giving the guy a formal flip of the bird.

They pulled back slowly, as if they didn’t want to stop, and everyone started clapping. They both blushed, still holding hands. “Glad I got you,” Gerard heard Harmony whisper, and Deidra giggled, nodding in agreement.

“So, next,” Harmony said, finally looking up. “Gerard.”

Gerard froze, feeling all eyes on him. He hunched his posture a little and moved forward, hesitantly spinning the bottle. He leaned back and looked down, suddenly seeing Harmony’s hand go forward and stop it. He looked up, wondering why Harmony stopped it, and also wondering why she had such a mischievous grin on her face. He looked over in the direction of the bottle’s end, mouth dropping open.

Frank.

Gerard could see Frank holding back a smile as he stood and made his way over to Gerard. Travie made room for Frank to sit next to Gerard, whooping quietly.

Frank stared down at Gerard’s lips and gripped his wrists. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he whispered, agonizingly close to Gerard. So close that he could feel heat radiating off Frank’s body; he could fucking smell him. He could almost taste him.

And he did.

Frank pushed their lips together in a quick motion, his hand traveling down to Gerard’s thigh, similar to what Deidra did to Harmony. Gerard’s leg twitched, his mouth opening to kiss Frank back. Kissing wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. He was mostly distracted by how soft Frank’s lips were, how strong he tasted, how _good_ he was at kissing. He closed his eyes and moaned, hearing a few people whistle. He ignored them.

Frank sucked on Gerard’s lower lip and ran his fingers through Gerard’s hair, making Gerard flinch a bit. He hadn’t brushed it. Frank didn’t seem to care, smirking when he noticed a point where his fingers got stuck. He used it to his advantage, pulling on his hair and pushing his tongue into Gerard’s mouth, just past his lips. Gerard’s eyes shot open, a choked noise escaping his throat.

He heard someone clear their throat, making Frank slowly pull back. He smirked and leaned over. “That was fun,” he whispered in Gerard’s ear, flicking the tip of his tongue against the shell of his ear. “You taste really fuckin’ good.”

Gerard groaned, still stunned. “I’m gonna… ah, I’m gonna go outside for a bit,” he murmured, standing up. Frank let go of Gerard’s hand, still smiling up at him. Gerard smiled a little at Frank, turning and quickly walking out.

His face felt like it was in flames from how much he blushed. He sat on the edge of the porch, looking up at the sky, now pitch black, a few stars dotting the area above him.

Frank just kissed him. And it wasn’t a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was so gay did u love it -patricksfump


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry it's been so long, we both have been extremely busy with our lives and everything, but I'm hoping to start work on this story again! Hope the past like 6 months have been good to you all :) I would also like to apologize for how short this is, I just wanted to get something up!  
> -autumn

Frank was left sitting on the floor, Harmony staring at him with a wide grin. “You have a lot to explain-” He started to say, but Harmony held up a single finger, beckoning for him to follow her into the kitchen with a raised eyebrow. Once they were safely out of earshot of the others, she began to speak.

 

“Do I? You’re still my friend, Frank, and I want to see you happy.” Harmony crossed her two fingers, smiling. “You and Gerard were already like this, I think you just needed a little push.” Frank crossed his arms over his chest, mildly offended that Harmony didn’t think he could hit on people properly.

 

“We would have gotten it together…” Frank pouted, and Harmony reached out, patting his shoulders.

 

“No, you really wouldn’t have. It took you a year to ask me out, and you guys definitely shouldn’t have to wait that long.” She gave him a firm look, and Frank finally nodded, admitting defeat. “Now, are you seriously just going to let Gerard sit out there and overthink this?” Harmony frowned at him, and Frank opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “That is not the Frank I knew, now get out of here.”

 

Harmony started pushing him toward the back door, Frank only resisting enough to ask, “Are you kicking me out?” Harmony huffed, rolling her eyes before answering.

 

“If you want back in, I’m going to be disappointed in you.” He forced himself not to be embarrassed by her statement, and sped up enough that Harmony was no longer pushing him.

 

“Alright, alright, I’m going!” Frank exclaimed, heading toward the back door, Harmony’s laughter following him as he pushed open the door.

 

*-*-*

 

Gerard took a few deep breaths, calming his racing heart, and dug into his pockets, pulling out a crushed packet of cigarettes. He lit one, and watched the smoke twist in the air before eventually disappearing. He was acutely aware that he was awake right now, that that had just happened. He felt so unsure about himself, and his relationship with Frank, and he just wanted to sit here and watch the moths fly against the humming porchlight repeatedly.

 

It was only a few minutes later when the door opened again, and Frank walked out. He looked around until his eyes fell on Gerard, and he walked over to sit down beside him. “I didn’t know you smoked.” Gerard shrugged, pulling the cigarette away from his lips and exhaling slowly before he answered.

 

“I don’t often.” Frank hummed, nodding while pulling out his own pack, grateful that it was obvious Gerard didn’t care. “Only when I’m stressed, really.” He paused in his movements when Gerard continued, raising an eyebrow.

 

“And you’re stressed right now?” Frank asked, though it was obvious why. Gerard just nodded, not answering, and flicked the ash off the end of the smoke. He didn’t want to dance around the obvious topic, but it seemed Frank did, as the conversation died. Both of them smoked quietly until Gerard cleared his throat, tossing his finished cigarette butt off the porch.

 

“Look, I uh… I really do like you. I like you a lot, and that… thing… that just happened. I liked that a lot too. It would be nice if we could do that again, if you wanted. Or something.” He coughed, keeping his gaze at his feet, sure that his face was bright red.

 

“I feel like a high schooler, damn it. Why can’t this be simple?” Gerard blurted out, rubbing his forehead.

 

“Actually, it really doesn’t have to be that complicated at all,” Frank replied carefully, and Gerard looked up at him, noticing that he was a lot closer than before. “You like me, and I like you back.” He raised an eyebrow, and Gerard parted his lips slightly to let out a small, shallow breath. “Why can’t we just…” He trailed off, glancing down at Gerard’s lips, and licking his own, then leaning forward and pressing their lips together for the second time that night.

 

The kiss was much more gentle than their first, almost as if Frank was worried of Gerard pulling away, but he didn’t, his hands moving up Frank’s neck until they tangled in his hair, pressing closer. Reassured that he wasn’t going away, Frank responded eagerly, biting Gerard’s lower lip teasingly. Gerard made a soft noise in response, hand moving from Frank’s hair to his face, rubbing his thumb along Frank’s cheekbone. His mouth opened, and Frank licked into his mouth, hand running under Gerard’s shirt to rub his hip.

 

They pulled apart to breathe, and Frank’s gaze went to Gerard’s lips as his tongue swiped across them, soothing over the small indents left from Frank’s teeth.

 

“Fuck…” Gerard whispered, his voice shaking. He whined softly when Frank leaned back in, sucking at his collarbone, nipping when Gerard extended his neck to give him more space.

 

“God… you taste so fucking good…” Frank whispered against Gerard’s neck, causing him to shiver. He lowered his voice even more, to barely a murmur. “I want to take you home…” Gerard nodded against the wall, eyes heavy.

 

“Please…” Gerard gasped, as the patio door opened with a loud creak, and Harmony stepped onto the porch, raising her eyebrows.

 

“You guys need anything? Some snacks? A condom?” She quoted, and Frank shook his head at her, rolling his eyes.

 

“No, but thanks, _mom_ , I think I’m just gonna take Gerard home,” he replied, pushing himself up off the ground, offering his hand to Gerard, whose face was red from the conversation happening before him.

 

“Alright, well, you boys have fun, and use protection!” She trilled, and gave Frank a wink, before heading back into the house. Gerard groaned, and covered his face with both of his hands, red blush even deeper than before.

 

“You both are unbelievable,” he said through his fingers, and Frank laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leading him off the porch to the car. The drive was short, the car almost humming with the tension between the two of them.

 

They pulled into Gerard’s driveway, and managed to make their way to the basement without disturbing anyone else in the house, but as soon as Gerard closed the bedroom door, Frank had him pinned up against it, kissing him deeply.

 

“Frank… the bed is literally two feet away,” Gerard gasped when they separated, pupils blown, breath hitting warm against Frank’s neck. “I really think this would be better over there.”

 

Frank snorted, and backed up until his knees hit cushion, guiding Gerard with him by his hips. He sat on the bed, holding Gerard by the hips between his legs. He was left staring at his stomach, and gently rubbed his face against it, laughing quietly when the muscles twitched under Gerard’s skin.

 

“Ticklish?” He asked in a slightly smug voice, whining when his grip slipped and Gerard stepped out of his grasp.

 

“Maybe,” Gerard replied, moving to lay back on his bed, laying with his legs splayed out with plenty of room for Frank between them. He understood an invitation when he saw one, and crawled across the bed, resting himself on Gerard’s chest.

 

“You’re adorable, you know that?” Frank was delighted in the red spreading across his boy’s face, stretching upwards to kiss his jaw. “When I first saw you in that ice cream shack, it took everything in me not to order you.”

 

“That’s so fucking cheesy!” Gerard exclaimed, unable to help the laughter bubbling up from his chest. Frank pretended to be hurt, sitting up and placing a hand on his chest.

 

“Apparently, you are the coldest thing in that hut, damn.” He settled back into Gerard’s chest when he got the gentle laugh he was looking for, humming in content.

 

They were there for a while, Frank listening to the soft thumps of Gerard’s heartbeat, as Gerard listened to the sounds of his house, with the addition of Frank’s breathing. It fit. Somehow, in a house of creepy dolls and covered windows, Frank’s slow, calm breaths fit.

 

“Can we just… can this be it for tonight? If I could fall asleep like this, that would be… the perfect end to the night.” Frank’s voice startled Gerard out of his thoughts, but he recovered quickly from it.

 

“Of course, if you don’t mind my brother potentially walking in and thinking something else happened,” he responded, and Frank just nuzzled in deeper, getting comfortable, pulling the sheet over the two of them.

 

“Let him think what he may. I will have a fantastic night, even if I’m not getting laid.” And with that, Frank focused on sleeping. Gerard was left there, eyes open, staring at the ceiling, a million thoughts rushing through his mind.

 

Was it possible Frank only wanted to get laid? But if so, why was he still here? Why would he ask to stay the night in the first place? Was it even possible that he lov-liked Gerard as much as it seemed?

 

With all these endless questions running through his mind, it seemed impossible for his mind to rest, and let him sleep.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the wonderful patricksfump for working with me again and being an awesome beta as well, much love!
> 
> This work has been posted on Wattpad (http://www.wattpad.com/story/36560260-rocky-road-frerard), and ficbook, translated to Russian by Zelo_Panda (https://ficbook.net/readfic/2955893). If you see it on other websites, it's not us, and we would appreciate it if you bring it to our attention!!
> 
> -
> 
> hello! patricksfump here to drop a quick note as a disclaimer!!
> 
>  **i'm not tagging this as chubby gerard.** the reasons are:  
>  1\. because fat fetishists are in the mcr fandom (believe me; i've seen them) and i hate when people fetishize fat people. fat people aren't fetishes just as thin people aren't. it's not a kink. it's a body type.  
> 2\. that's just gerard's body type and it shouldn't have to be explained with a tag. thank you xoxo


End file.
